bankruptcy. And if, during that time the bankrupt pay to his creditors such additional sum as, with the dividend paid out of his property, amounts to 10s. in the pound, he will be entitled to his discharge. If at the expiration of that period he has not obtained his discharge, any balance remaining unpaid of any debt proved in the bankruptcy will be deemed a subsisting judgment debt, capable of being enforced against the debtor's property, but subject to the rights of persons becoming creditors after the close of the bankruptcy.

By the Debtors' Act, 1869, no person can, after the first of January, 1870, be arrested or imprisoned for making default in payment of a sum of money, with certain exceptions, thus specified :1. Default in payment of a penalty.

2. Any sum recoverable summarily before a justice of the peace. 3. Default of a trustee ordered by a court of equity to pay any sum in his possession or under his control.

4. Default by an attorney or solicitor in payment of costs when ordered to pay the same; or for misconduct.

5. Default in payment for the benefit of creditors of salary or other income ordered to be paid by a court of bankruptcy. 6. Default in payment of sums ordered.

All persons may be committed to prison in pursuance of any order or judgment of the court. The imprisonment will not discharge any debt or cause of action.

II. Court of Probate.

The law relating to Last Wills and Testaments has been very materially altered by the late Act, 20 & 21 Vict., c. 77,* called "The Court of Probate Act," by which all the jurisdiction and authority of the Ecclesiastical Courts in respect of the granting and revocation of probates of wills and letters of administration have been taken from such courts, and now centres in the Court of Probate.

The court is presided over by a judge, who ranks with the judges next after the Lord Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer. He is also the Judge Ordinary of the Divorce Court, which has also recently been called into operation.

* See also 25 & 26 Vict., c. 22; 27 & 28 Vict., c. 56; 31 & 32 Vict., c. 124.

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The Court of Probate now exercises jurisdiction over the granting of probates and letters of administration, and determines all questions relating to matters in testamentary cases; and its business consists in pronouncing upon the validity of wills and codicils, and deciding in cases of intestacy upon the person to whom the administration of the deceased's estate shall be given. Public Registries, under the control of the Court of Probate, called District Registries, are established in various parts of the kingdom, the district registrars having similar powers within their districts as to granting probate and letters of administration as the Probate Court itself.

The judge has also power to appoint an administrator pendente lite, to deal with the personalty, and a receiver to deal with the real estates, and the court has the same power to enforce its various decrees and orders as is now possessed by the Court of Chancery.

Where the personal property of the deceased is under £200, and where the real property is under £300, the judge of the county court of the district where the deceased had his fixed place of abode has the same power to determine the suit as the Court of Probate.

The rules and principles of evidence observed in the superior courts of common law and equity at Westminster are applicable to all trials of questions of fact in the Court of Probate.

New trials and rehearings may be granted, and any party dissatisfied with the judgment of the court may appeal to the House of Lords as of right from a final decree, and by leave of the judge from interlocutory decrees or orders.

III. Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes. The cumbrous and protracted machinery of the old Ecclesiastical Courts, so far as related to Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, has been superseded by a new jurisdiction, created under the title of the "Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes."*

It is a court of record, and the judge of the Court of Probate is the ordinary judge. It is held at Westminster, and all the judges of the Courts of Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and

* See 20 & 21 Vict., c. 85; 22 & 23 Vict., c. 61; 23 & 24 Vict., c. 144.

Exchequer are component parts of the court; but the Judge Ordinary is enabled either alone, or with one or more of the other judges, to hear and determine all matters arising therein. The Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes is invested with very important and distinctive powers. It exercises exclusive authority in respect of divorces and judicial separation; suits of nullity of marriage; suits of jactitation of marriage, now almost obsolete; suits for restitution of conjugal rights; and in all causes, suits, and matters matrimonial, except in respect of marriage licences.

The court may pronounce decrees for the restitution of conjugal rights in cases of desertion. It may grant a decree of judicial separation on the ground of adultery, or cruelty, or desertion for two years and upwards- -Of dissolution of marriage in cases of adultery at the suit of the husband; and at the suit of the wife in cases of adultery aggravated by cruelty or some other unlawful offence- -Of nullity of marriage where it is proved to have been invalid either by some informality in the celebration or by reason of incapacity, either legal or physical, in either of the contracting parties.

Application for restitution of conjugal rights, or for judicial separation or divorce on any one of these grounds, may be made by either husband or wife by petition to the court or to any judge of assize at the assizes held for the county in which the husband and wife reside; and the court or judge may decree restitution of conjugal rights, or judicial separation; and where the application is by the wife, may make any order for alimony which is just.

In all cases in which the court makes a decree or order for alimony, it may direct the same to be paid either to the wife herself or to any trustee on her behalf, and may impose any terms or restrictions which it deems expedient.

The court is also empowered to make such orders with respect to the custody of the children of the marriage as it may deem just and proper, and may, if it thinks fit, direct proceedings to be taken for placing the children under the protection of the Court of Chancery.

The court has also the power of granting an order—as is the case with some of the inferior magisterial jurisdictions-protect

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ing a wife's earnings from her husband and his creditors in cases where the wife has been deserted; and in every case of a judicial separation the wife shall be considered as a feme sole with respect to property of every description which she may acquire, or which may come to, or devolve upon her.

A novel provision of the Act is that it allows the alleged adulterer to be made a co-respondent to the petition for a divorce; and the Court has the power to make such an order upon him as to the whole or part of the costs of the proceedings as it may deem fit; and the Court has also power, in the case of a wife's petition, to make the woman with whom the husband is alleged to have committed adultery, a party to the suit, with a view to the costs.

By this Act no action in future will be maintainable in England for criminal conversation; but the husband may, in a petition for dissolution of marriage or for judicial separation, claim damages from the adulterer, and the suit will be heard and tried on the same principles as actions for crim. con. were formerly tried.

The court, in cases of dissolution of marriage, has the power to inquire into the terms of any marriage settlement which has been executed, and to make orders for the application of the whole or part of the fund, either for the benefit of the innocent party and of the children of the marriage, as it may think fit; or either or any of them.*

An appeal from the judgment of the court for a decree absolute, in a case of dissolution of marriage, may be made to the House of Lords. If no appeal be lodged within the prescribed time, either or both the parties may marry again as if the prior marriage had been dissolved by death.

* See 20 & 21 Vict., c. 85, s. 45; 23 & 24 Vict., c. 44, s. 6.

CHAPTER IV.

COURTS ECCLESIASTICAL, MILITARY, AND MARITIME. Besides the several Courts which have been treated of, in which all injuries are redressed that fall under the cognizance of the common law of England, or that spirit of equity which ought to be its constant attendant, there still remain other Courts of a jurisdiction equally public and general that require consideration.

What are these Courts, and explain them?

I. Courts Ecclesiastical.

The Ecclesiastical Courts at one time exercised a very extended jurisdiction; but the business of these courts, of which the principal are the Consistory Courts of the bishop of each diocese and the Court of Arches, are now mainly confined to inquiring into charges of heresy, of improperly conducting the services of the Church, and of immoral and scandalous conduct on the part of clergymen.*

These courts also entertain suits of a quasi-criminal nature against laymen for damaging the church, or the churchyard, or for not repairing the chancel, or aisle, when it is incumbent on them to do so; also against churchwardens for neglect of duty, and against any person for defacing, or removing the monuments, or pews, or otherwise interfering with the church or churchyard, without a power previously granted by the Ordinary.†

The COURT of ARCHES referred to is the court of appeal belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury; whereof the judge is called the Dean of the Arches. His proper jurisdiction is only over the *For former jurisdictions of the Ecclesiastical Courts, see Blackstone, vol. iii. † See 21 & 22 Vict., c. 77; 18 & 19 Vict., c. 41; 23 & 24 Vict., c. 32; also 32 & 33 Vict., c. 85.